Why Unschedules May Work Best When Traveling with Family
Charlotte Davis learned a lot about traveling with little kids during a family road trip to Las Vegas. She shares why unschedules might make traveling easy.
family
There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays
There’s no place like home for the holidays… Many people interpret home differently when they become adults. For me, home is wherever my family is. However, the definitions for both home and family have changed over the years. With each stage of life, they take on new meaning and I’ve shifted into different roles. When […]
A Personal “Goodness of Fit” Test for Your Next Relocation
The conscious decision to open or close a life-changing gateway is an emotional process. Before an international relocation (or a domestic one, for that matter) every component of the decision is weighed countless times over. Potential consequences from each path and direction are analyzed from all angles. The immediate, intermediate, and long-term effects are mapped […]
This is not the country I grew up in and remember
This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be-kindergartener’s classroom. pic.twitter.com/mWiJVdddpH — Georgy Cohen (@radiofreegeorgy) June 6, 2018 Columbine High School’s shooting happened when I was a sophomore in high school (10th grade). I remember sitting in the sunny second floor classroom in Dr. Gomez’s Spanish class and praying that if we ever had an active […]
The “Right” Number of Kids
How many kids do you have?” the dental technician asked me while her latex-gloved hands were working inside my mouth. I could feel her knuckles against the inside of my lips, expertly moving the mirror and probe from tooth to tooth. Now really isn’t the right time to be having a conversation, I thought, but […]
Looking for trash, volunteers discover streets are super clean
Determined to “clean up the streets” a small group of volunteers in a suburb outside of Stockholm, Sweden, struggled to find trash to fill their bags. Armed with gloves, oversized trash bags, and water to stay hydrated in the hot June sun, the group wandered along the pedestrian paths searched for anything to grab using […]
Monday Morning Emails May be a Future Preview of Our Lives
Every parent is afraid they are making a mistake when raising their children—abroad or domestically—and Jo Parfitt and Terry Anne Wilson are no different. In their book, Monday Morning Emails, they often question if their decision to move their families frequently throughout their children’s childhood results in their children’s inability to cope with difficulty. Monday Morning Emails […]
A Vehicle: A Partnership
The headlight beamed into our garage. It is after 9 p.m. and my husband, and I have been working on the front end of our cranky Volvo for at least two hours. Successfully self-conducted car repairs would be considered a victory if we still lived in Atlanta, GA because I always enjoyed saving money but […]
Blended Baby: Learning to Love Your Partner’s Family Background
One of the best things about having a baby with someone you love? Your little bundle of joy is lucky enough to be half you and half your partner—whether by nature, nurture, or both. When you look into those big twinkly eyes, you may just catch a glimpse of your better half. Of course, your […]
The Differences Between Then and Now: Reflections on Integration
Over the past six years, we have become a murky blend of less-American-but-not-quite-Swedish. We’ve kept some of the old but mostly, we have embraced the new. The differences between January 2012 (back then) and January 2018 (now) are stark. Stark also conveniently translates into “strong” in Swedish. The changes in us are noticeable only when […]